Like the Phoenix
by 3Not-enough-hours3
Summary: Clarke and Madi must battle to stay alive on the surface of a world that's gone even more 'Mad Max' than before. While those in the bunker must come to terms with what makes a family, as old families are lost and new ones are formed. Plus who knew getting down would be way harder than getting up?Alternate Season 5..except I ignore "six years later"(and sneakily Lexa's alive)


Ok here we go! Firstly I'm sorry for those of you following The Long Road it's not dead it's just in a coma...a deep deep coma. I haven't pulled the plug but its touch and go.

I was inspired by season 4 so I had to write this. I like the idea of Madi..and uh I might have gone a tad kid crazy uh yeah you'll see. Like always I was frustrated by the show throwing the baby out with the bath water as the saying goes. Seriously why spend 3 seasons creating all this amazing world and culture only to burn it down to ground without exploring it in any depth?

P.S fun fact Steve and Kevin are my favourite minion/extra names. I find them unreasonably hilarious.

* * *

Chapter 1 - Grief is Universal.

Praimfaya whilst catastrophic burnt hot, bright and fast. The original shock wave passed in seconds like a blazing tsunami igniting a burning inferno in its wake. Primfiya was the ignition, the earth was the fuel, one hundred year old forests stuck and caught going up in a wall of orange and red flame.

Bellamy looked down at the earth and watched it burn. On the trip up, after he'd made the call to leave, he'd told himself that things might be alright, just maybe, they might be. Clarke was literally one of the smartest people he knew. If anyone could survive Praimfaya it would be her. But now, now as he watched the world burn he felt his hope burn with it. No way someone on the outside could survive that, even with Nightblood...and even if she made it back to Becca's bunker it wasn't prepped, it wasn't ready, they had take most of the supplies with them. Hell, looking at it from this perspective- the blue planet swallowed by vivid orange, he no longer even felt confident that the New Dawn*bunker* was enough let alone becca's.

Octavia.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath pushing the thoughts of his sister aside. He couldn't afford to fall apart, not now. Even if all he felt like doing was punching a wall and getting absolutely shit faced. Clarke had been so serious earlier when she'd approached him. He had to use his head now, despite how his cursed big heart was breaking because she'd asked him too because it's what she'd want him to do and because she wasn't here to do it herself. So he'd do it like she'd do it -head over heart, he'd hold their people together even if there was only the six of them.

He took one more breath.

"Right guys let's get to it! Monty? Are you up to running through what we'll need to do to get that algae farm set up? Raven I assume you're good to run a systems check...

* * *

 **One Year Later**

Octavia strode through the doors. Her Commanders jacket flaring our behind her in a swirl.

"Well? What've we got? Is it them? Tell me it's them"

"We received a faint signal earlier." Replied the man manning the comms station and the brunette could hear the controlled excitement behind the words causing her to work hard to keep her own at bay.

"We managed to clean it up and connect but the signal was faint and garbled... But it was them! I know it was them! I mean who else would it be?...It sounded like Reyes to me but I couldn't be sure…"

The brunette cut off his excited ramble "...I'm gonna assume you tried to contact them?"

"Yes Commander... but we got no response.." He said slightly deflated. A year on and it still sometime startled her to hear Skaikru refer to her by her title.

"You lost the signal?" she asked

"No I don't think so…" The man, Steve if she remembered correctly shrugged. She was about to ask another question when the radio squarked brokenly to life.

"T-is h- r-ng- -ver. I i- he- Ri-ng"

"That's Raven! It's Raven!" Octavia exclaimed in what was probably a shade off a squeal. It wasn't exactly in keeping with her standard stoic gona appearance and it wasn't particularly commandery, but it was RAVEN. After over a year it was Raven.

"Can you make it any clearer? I can't make out what she's saying."

Steve frowned "We've done all we can"

Octavia growled she glanced sideways at Kane"Keep trying. You" pointing at the guard on the door. "Go get Abby, bring her here imedia…"

"This is the Ring. I Repeat this is the Ring do you copy? Over."

The brunette stopped mid sentence. The signal was now crystal clear, the disembodied voice could have been standing next to her and it was no longer Raven..

"Bell" She breathed his name like a prayer.

"This is.." He started his message again.

"What are you doing? Repy!? Better yet give it here!" Wasting no more time Octavia strode over whipping the receiver off the startled Steve.

"Bell? Bell?! This is O can you hear me? Over."

She waited for what felt like hours but was really probably only seconds and then

"Oh O! O! You're alive!" he laughed wetly "Oh man! Thank god I was so worried I was going outta my mind. We've been trying to make contact since we got up here! Raven said it was probably the radiation interfering with the signal but seeing the state of the earth from up here it was hard not to think worst"

There was a knock on the door behind her and Abby complete with baby Jake on her hip and Lexa at her side slid silently through the door. The brunette gave a brief nod to them before turning her attention back to the receiver. She marvelled at the thought of her friends actually making it back to space.

"I'm so glad you're alright too Bell! Raven if you're listening you're a genius!" and she laughed as she release a years worth of worry "God I can't believe you crazy freaks managed to get into space AGAIN. That you're all up there just floating around while the earth burns!"

She expected a laugh or a smile to his voice. She could always tell when he was smirking it was like the sixth sense of a little sister. Except he didn't in fact when he spoke he sounded the opposite and Octavia felt her heart clench before he'd even finished speaking.

"Uh ..Not all of us O'...not all of us…..Who's in the room is ...is Abby there?"

Behind her she heard Abby suck in a sharp breath for she knew as well as the young Commander what was coming. Kane was already crossing the room, his urgent strides taking him to abby's side in moments.

Softly reluctantly she clicked the receiver

"Yeah Bell she is"

He was quiet for a beat and Octavia imagined him gathering himself, steeling himself she could almost perfectly imagine him clenching his jaw and squaring his shoulders.

"Abby. Abby I'm sorry I'm so so sorry…" Octavia watched the woman shake her head in denial clutching Jake closer.

"She saved us. Clarke saved us again."

There was a ringing silence after his declaration as they all processed the statement and as the silence pressed on with no indication that Bellamy would add anything further, Octavia felt compelled to ask... because as she eyed Abby frantically shake her head and a colourless Lexa standing beside her she knew if it had been Lincoln she'd want to know. So she asked.

"How Bell? How'd she uh…" He voice sounded rough and gravelly

There was a deep breath like he was trying to figure out what to say before he continued "The ships comms link was busted. We had to send a signal from the tower to the Ring or we'd get there and then be dead. We were all running out of time there was so much to get done. We w-we just had no time.. Monty was hurt...I ...I had to help him. So she went alone she knew the time frame...But something must have gone wrong and whatever happened she chose to see it through... chose to save us."

Abby suddenly marched over and snatched the receiver out of her hand simultaneously jostling baby Jake awake.

"What are you saying Bellamy?" Her voice we shrill.

Now it was Bell's turn to make a pained noise

"You know what I'm saying Abby"

This close Octavia could see the panting breaths and the white knuckled grip of Doctor's distress "Are you saying you LEFT her!..." At his mother's shrill shout Jake started to fuss, screwing up his tiny face.

"Abby.."

"Abby…." Kane echoed as he gently tried to ease his son from Abby's overly tight clutch but she shook him off while continuing to focus on the receiver in her hand.

"You promised me! You said you'd take care of each other…'Yes Ma'am you said! You Said!"

Octavia wanted to defend her brother, Abby was being unfair but she also painfully familiar with grief and the anger it brought so she let it go.

"I did what Clarke taught me to do Abby, lead with my head and not my heart." and now it was the ex-Commanders turn to make a strangled noise and Octavia watched the other brunette grope for a chair before sitting heavily.

Bellamy continued voice rough "If we'd waited it would have been all eight of us instead of one. You KNOW Clarke would never have chosen that... whether right or wrong Clarke always always chose to put her people -US..our survival first…."

The radio clicked off and in the silence that followed Jake finally let loose a thin reedy cry. The sound was pitiful and mournful and once again Kane tried to take the boy from Abby.

"No no no...let me have him let me keep him.." she muttered as she thrust the radio receiver into his hands instead in order to hold the babe with both hands. She began to rock him from side to side in an attempt to calm him but it was too late and he continued to wail.

" I uh...I'm sorry again.." Bellamy said again awkwardly, sounding miserable and Octavia realise they'd left him hanging for a response.

Now it was Kane's turn to bring the receiver to his lips.

"It's ok son. We know you kids would do anything for each other. We know you would have done everything you possibly could. Thankyou for telling us"

"Sir you've got nothing to thank me for yo...wait is that a baby?" Bellamy broke off confused, he could obviously hear baby Jake's crying in the background. The little guy's wailing continued but he sounded like he was beginning to calm now that he had Abby's attention.

Kane gave a sad chuckle. "Yes that's Baby Jake. Uh Abby and I had a son" He said with obvious pride. It was funny Octavia had notice that most of the Arker adults referred the newest Jake as "Baby" Jake as if the ghost of Senior Jake was still such a solid presence that they had to differentiate between the two just incase someone got confused as to which Jake they were referring to. It reinforced to the young Commander that despite the fact that she'd personally never known him, Jake Griffin had been a much loved influential member of the Alpha Station community. She wondered how much Clarke took after him...or had taken after him that is.

" It turns out she was pregnant before we entered the bunker…he's five months old" Kane said somewhat sheepishly and he hurried on to further explain "Uh We do have a strict no population growth policy, as the bunker just cannot sustain more mouths... but anyone who was already pregnant was allowed to keep their child" Octavia saw the moment it occurred to him just which family he was having this conversation with, his eyes suddenly widened and cut to her briefly before darting away.

Bellamy, if he cared was magnanimous about it.

"That's really great Sir! Congratulation on the little one then. I hope one day I can meet him"

" You will. I'm positive of it" Kane replied with conviction looking towards his son who was now quiet in his mother's desperate grip. There was a lull before they heard Bellamy start to speak again.

"I…" they heard him click off the receiver before saying anything.

"I ..I'm" it clicked off again Octavia frowned he literally just told them that Clarke was dead what could possibly be more intimidating to say than that?

" Uh I' I'm going to be a father too…"


End file.
